


Never Change Unless You Want To

by HawkyBarton



Series: OTP and Fanfic Brigade (Prompts galore) [12]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cute, Fluff, M/M, Social anxieties, otpprompts, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-13 08:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3374642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkyBarton/pseuds/HawkyBarton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint couldn't believe Phil was proud of him</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the prompt: Imagine Person A of your OTP having severe anxiety, especially social anxiety, and Person B is the person they hide behind when they’re in public. Person B orders food for them, talks to the cashier for them, makes sure they have to talk as little as possible at school… One day Person A had an oral presentation, but Person B is sick. Person A freezes without the moral support from Person B, and runs out the door to Person B’s house. How does the meeting go? Is Person an ashamed or just scared?

Natasha looked at Clint and sighed, “You know I love you – but one day you’re going to have to stop using Phil as a crutch”

 

Clint, a social outcast with a severe social anxiety, just shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah I know… But, I can’t help it, you know? Every time I try and just let go of my anxiety, that’s when something bad happens… Like remember last year when I tried to ask the teacher for my missed homework and he screamed at me for twenty minutes?”

 

Natasha sighed, “Yes I remember. Phil got him fired, didn’t he?”

 

Clint smiled, “He did. Which was a good thing, since he didn’t have a teaching license to begin with”

 

“How he ever got through the background check, I’ll never know” Natasha said thoughtfully.

 

Clint just nodded and looked back down at his lunch. Phil, who had walked away to talk to one of the other members of the Student Government committee, plopped back down into his seat “What are you guys talking about? What did I miss?”

 

Clint smiled and tucked his fingers against Phil’s, “Natasha was just telling me about how I should start facing my anxiety head-on”

 

Phil looked at Clint and frowned, “Well… I guess, if you want to. You don’t have to face it if it will make you feel worse, I’ll always be there to protect you… Or to help you start to protect yourself”

 

Clint smiled, “Best boyfriend ever”

 

Phil grinned and pressed a kiss to Clint’s nose.

 

Natasha gagged, “You two are disgusting”

 

After that talk, Clint really did try to get over his anxieties. He knew that nobody would be upset with him if he never did, and he knew that Natasha was only saying those things for his benefit, but Clint also knew it was high-time he tried to learn to stand up for himself. To live in the real world, despite how consuming it may seem at times.

 

In fact, Clint actually made progress in the weeks after that conversation. He even ordered his lunch all by himself (and if the lunch ladies got a little teary-eyed over that fact, well, nobody but Phil and Clint noticed).

So, when Clint had a major presentation due in their biology class the next day and Phil texted Clint to say he had food poisoning, Clint thought he would be able to at least muster through alright.

 

However, Clint had never been more wrong.

 

Clint had started his presentation out strong, but as he got into it, the anxiety began to set in big time. Clint couldn’t help but notice the classes’ stares and though he tried to think about Phil, everything got to be just too much for him.

 

Clint finished his presentation without knowing if he said any of the right material and ran out of the room as soon as the PowerPoint hit the last slide. The teacher tried to call out to him, but Clint wasn’t listening. He just needed to find Phil.

 

Running out of the school building, Clint hopped on his bike and rode over to the Coulson house, using his copy of the key to get in and ran up to Phil’s room.

 

Phil was surprised to see Clint, but had his arms open the second he saw the other boy’s face. Burrowing his whole body into Phil’s, Clint just shook and sobbed into his boyfriend’s chest.

 

Phil just ran a hand over Clint’s back until the other boy had calmed down. “Hey… Are you okay now?”

 

Clint just nodded and sat up, sniffing “Sorry. I shouldn’t have come over here – I just-”

 

Phil just shushed Clint, “Shhh Clint, it’s okay. I understand. Presentations can be hard on everyone, even me”

 

Clint sniffed again, “I know… I just…. Everyone was looking at me, and I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I finished the presentation and ran from the room. I hope Mr. Rogers doesn’t give me a bad grade for skipping out”

 

Phil smiled, “You finished the presentation?”

 

Clint nodded, “Yeah. Got to the last slide and everything”

 

Phil cuddled Clint against his chest, “The Clint I knew last year couldn’t have done that. I’m proud of you baby, even if you did have to get away. Trust me, nobody will blame you for that”

 

Clint just tilted his head up, “You’re proud of me?”

 

Phil smiled, “I’m always proud of you. You have this crippling social anxiety, and yet you always let me in. You let Natasha, and Bucky, and Tony, and Bruce, and Thor, and Sam, and everyone else in. You go outside and you smile at lunch ladies while I order our food. And sometimes, you order the food. You finish presentations and you can sometimes talk to teachers that don’t have licenses. Not many people can do that, and yet you do. Aren’t you proud of yourself Clint?”

 

Clint thought for a moment, “When you put it like that…. I guess I should be proud of myself, huh?”

 

Phil nodded, “You definitely should. And trust me, you should never try to change yourself because you feel you have to. If you want to get over your social anxiety, that’s fine with me. But if you want me to order our food for the rest of our lives, I will gladly do that too. You got that Clint Barton?”

 

Clint smiled, “Yeah… I do”


	2. College

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Phil. College. Graduation. Wait listed. You know, senior year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: For the socially anxious Clint high school AU: It's March and the last college acceptances are coming out. Phil, of course, got into their first choice early action, but Clint got waitlisted. What if he doesn't get in? What if Phil goes off to college without him? Tell me how Clint and Phil cope until the letter arrives.

Phil sighed and sat down on Clint’s bed, cuddling him to his chest. “Hey. It’s okay..”

Clint shook his head, “Of course you can say that Phil - you got in to Brown! You got into Brown _early_ and I’ve been wait-listed!”

Phil smiled, “Which means you have a chance to get in. Wait-listed doesn’t mean rejected..”

Clint whimpered and burrowed his head further into Phil’s neck, “But it could be. What happens if I don’t get in Phil? You’ll get into Brown and forget all about me and I’ll be stuck at Community and...”

Phil lifted Clint’s chin, “Clint. Stop. I know where you’re going with this, and I am appalled you don’t have any faith in yourself or me. No matter what schools we get into, we will _always_ be together... And no matter where we go, _you_ will be strong enough to get through it all. You don’t need me.”

Clint blushed and nuzzled Phil’s cheek, “I may not need you as much as I did, but I still want to be around you always”

Phil chuckled and kissed Clint’s cheek, “Well we still have a month or two till graduation, and two months of summer. Don’t worry just yet”

Clint sighed, “Alright”

 

******

Clint looked at Natasha and Phil, “But I didn’t like Havard! I only put an application in because my foster parents wanted me too!”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “You get into one of the best schools in the country with an almost full ride because of your archery, and you would rather wait to see if Brown accepts you”

Clint nodded, “Exactly!”

Phil chuckled, “Well at least he’s consistent”

Natasha shook her head, “Consistently weird”

Clint just shrugged.

 

*******

Phil, Natasha, Bucky, Steve, Tony, Pepper, Nick, Bruce, Darcy, Jane, Thor, and Maria were all in their caps and gowns 

“Yo Coulson, where your boy toy at?” Stark called out.

Phil rolled his eyes, “Clint and I are only three months apart Stark. Chill out..”

Natasha hummed, “yes but where is he? Graduation starts soon”

Phil sighed, “I’ve texted him three times. He said he was on his way 20 minutes ago”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “I love my little sniper bro, but _damn_ does he need a watch”

Phil sighed and scratched at his hair, “He’ll be here. He has to be here”

The group collectively shrugged their shoulders.

“PHIL!!!”

Blinking, Phil turned towards the shout and was tackled to the ground by Clint.

“Ow!”

Clint smiled and kissed Phil, “I got in!”

Phil looked up at Clint, “Got in?”

Clint nodded, “To Brown! My acceptance letter just came in!”

Phil grinned, “That’s fantastic!!!”

“That’s awesome pony boy, but we have a graduation to get to”

Clint threw Stark the bird, “Fuck you man, I just got into my first choice school”

Stark rolled his eyes, “Knew you could do it Legolas...”

Clint smiled and looked down at Phil, “Soo....?”

Phil grinned, “I’m proud of you.”

Clint smiled and stood up, grabbing Phil’s hand to help him up, “I’m proud of me too”

Phil chuckled and wrapped an arm around Clint’s shoulders, “Lets go graduate”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((You can prompt me if you wish for other fics, or for any ideas you may have about this fic at [ Hellogoodbye](http://hellogoodbye741.tumblr.com/ask)))

**Author's Note:**

> (( You can prompt me if you wish for other fics, or for any ideas you may have about this fic at [ Hellogoodbye](http://hellogoodbye741.tumblr.com/ask) ))


End file.
